Common in the electronics, computer, and other industries are cabinets to house various components. Typically the cabinets comprise a sheet metal or plastic chassis arranged in a rectangular configuration with an access panel on one side. The access panel provides users admission to the interior of the cabinet and the access to the components housed therein so that the components can be upgraded, serviced, monitored, or otherwise maintained.
The access panels of typical electrical cabinets often include a lever arm to facilitate attachment of the access panel to the cabinet. One example of such a lever arm and access panel is shown in FIG. 1, which displays a network server computer cabinet housing a server.
FIG. 1 shows an access panel 20 with a lever 22 extending from the surface of the panel in an open position. When lever 22 is in the open position shown, access panel 20 may be freely removed from the cabinet chassis (not shown) in a direction normal to the surface of the access panel. However, when lever 22 is in a closed position with lever 22 flush with the surface of access panel 20, the access panel is secured to the cabinet chassis in the direction normal to the surface of the access panel (typically the access panel will include several hooks arranged about the perimeter of the access panel that mate with recesses in the chassis to support the access panel and secure it in other directions).
The lever 22 may include cam surfaces 24 shown in FIG. 2 that engage a box (not shown) located behind access panel 20. The box would generally be attached to the cabinet chassis and arranged such that as lever 22 is positioned flush with access panel 20, the cam surfaces abut the box tightly and prevent movement of the access panel in the direction normal to the panel. When the lever is lifted (as shown in FIG. 1), however, the cam surfaces disengage the box and allow the access panel to be removed from the cabinet chassis.
Referring again to FIG. 1, lever 22 is typically free to move between its open and closed positions with no restrictions, which often results in many problems. For example, if a user wishes to remove access panel 20 to admit herself to the cabinet, she will lift lever 22 to the open position so that the access panel disengages the box (not shown) and the panel can be removed. However, after releasing lever 22, it will generally tend to rotate back to the closed position (flush with access panel 20). When the user desires to replace the access panel, she will often attempt to do so without holding lever 22 in the open position. The attempt at replacing the panel without holding lever 22 may be a mere oversight (forgetting that the lever must be open) or it may be due to the fact that it is often difficult to both hold the lever open and engage the various hooks with their respective recesses to properly install the access panel.
Failing to hold the lever open results in inability to properly install access panel 20. Cam surfaces 24 interfere with the box (not shown) when lever 22 is in the closed position and access panel 20 cannot be securely attached to the cabinet chassis. Often a user may become frustrated and resort to deforming or destroying access panel 20, or just setting it aside when the panel cannot easily be reinstalled. Even if a user remembers to lift lever 22 while reinstalling access panel 20, the installation is more difficult and inconvenient because the user must allocate at least one appendage to holding the lever.
In addition, many times the components contained in a cabinet include sensitive equipment such as computers or other electronics that a user may wish to restrict access to. The lever systems currently available do not provide the users the ability to restrict removal of the access panels.
The present invention is directed to solving, or at least reducing the effects of one or more of the problems stated above.